To observe Ra Ra Riot on stage is to observe a joyful experience in progress, somehow both intensely fun and just plain intense; it’s a joy that’s always aware that darkness and despair may be just around the corner, that life is both beautiful and terrible, and it’s a joy that is in fact amplified by this awareness. It’s this bittersweet dynamic that makes the rhumb line a compelling debut album by a band with seemingly limitless potential. From the haunting slowburn crescendos of opener ghost under rocks through the playful each year, can you tell and too too too fast, the more pensive oh, la and dying is fine, and a curveball cover of Kate Bush’s suspended in gaffa, the album skillfully melds elements of new wave and classic indie with sweeping orchestral chamber pop to startling effect. Epic and eloquent, dramatic and graceful, Ra Ra Riot’s debut is an inventive and ambitious record that consistently conveys the passions of its creators.

BACK TO LINEUP